Having been dissatisfied the first few times I bought coins on eBay, I quickly developed a few simple standards to minimize my risk when buying US coins.  Here is my guide for collectors when attempting to bid and buy US coins on eBay:

1. First off, I keep the attitude of Caveat Emptor, or Buyer Beware, in mind when bidding and if I win a coin that is $100 list in G4 for a measly 35$, then I am prepared to be disappointed and grateful if it turns out to be a bargain(Which is usually not the case).

2. Educate yourself on coin grading and counterfiet detection and immerse yourself a bit into your local coin shop to get an idea of what problem and problem free coins should look like.

3. NEVER fall prey to hyped up terms that have no real meaning.  Coins, like all professions have their terminology and you should try to learn it and if you see something like FDC(This is a real example by the way) in the description of the coins grade, then ask yourself what that means...it means nothing real in the industry by the way, but the seller used it in a hyped up way and sold a decent looking 20th century type set that was worth 600-700 for almost $1500!!!!  The buyers great grandchildren may be able to recover the money invested.  The dates were common and all that sold it was shiny, common date coins few dealers want and a hyped up description.  I sold a set with detailed descriptions, tons of pictures, and loaded with semi-key dates and didn't even clear 500$, but I reefuse to unjustly hype my coins.

4. Never buy from sellers who list a coin as "I call it an AU coin"  and you are looking at it and it is so obvoiusly a VG coin.  If the dealer, who obviously knows how to grade a coin, will blatantly lie about the coins grade, then be prepared for the other problems like cleaning, dings, and rim problems that will undoubtedly come with it.  There is a reason he is overhyping it and it is because he cannot sell it for anything to a retail coin dealer.

5. Look at the sellers feedback first thing.  Is it full of generic, short remarks?  Or does it have genuine, personalized remarks?  I always buy from people who have a decent amount of personalized feedback and avoid ones who have mostly "Thanks"(Which usually means "I hate the coin, but am afraid to give negative feedback").  If there are more than a few negative feedbacks, then beware.  This can be especially deceiving when you just look at the score w/o entering the feedback page.  It could say 99.7%, but his score is 25,987 which means he really has quite a few negative feedbacks.  I have a large amount of personalized feedback and enjoy it when I hear back from happy customers.

6. Avoid buying from people who simply tell you to look at the picture and grade it for yourself.  While this is good advice, the seller should at least describe the surfaces and especially importantly, tell you about any rim problems which are hard to detect in a picture. These people know exactly the real grade of the coin and the net value of the coin if it has problems.  While coin grading is a bit daunting to learn at first, after a bit it is easy to see the differences in one grade to the next.  RIM PROBLEM COINS ARE THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE YOU WILL ENCOUNTER WHEN RECEIVING THE COIN FROM THESE BUYERS...CLEANING BEING THE SECOND ISSUE.

7.  NEVER and I NEVER fall prey to these listings that make it sound like you are getting a huge amount of mixed, rare coins from some huge estate.  These people are using eBay as a dumping ground for suckers who are willing to pay $100s for a few dollars worth of junk coins with no real resale potential.  YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR MONEYS WORTH FROM THESE LISTINGS.  The penny roll lots are a perfect example...wheat penny rolls for 10-15$ or more with some promise of the chance to find something good, so you get a 2.25$ roll of common low grade wheat pennys with mabye an 11's' in a problem G$ or VG that is worth a buck or two or an UNC 58 worth a few nore pennys than a circulated coin.  Another is YOU WIN IT ALL ESTATE LOT SPECIAL lots...wow are these a rip...people are bidding outrageously on hype and coins with no resale value at all.  DO NOT BE THEIR NEXT SUCKER and read the lots carefully.

8. NEVER buy slabbed coins unless it is PCGS, NGC, ANACS, ICG, PCI, or SEGS...these are the ONLY US coin grading firms that are recognized in the spectrum of acceptable US coin grading companys.  I listed them in order of their resale value and respectability by coin dealers...all grade coins in a similar fashion and I prefer ANACS because they grade the most accurate and the other two above ANACS does more market grading which is sometimes way off from the coins technical grade based on wear, originality, luster, and eye appeal.  IF it does not carry one of these names, you are 110% guaranteed to get an overgraded coin.  The other slabbers are fly by night operations you send the coin to or they buy and slab themselves and the seller tells them to grade it MS68 and pays a few bucks and it ends up in plastic, looking official as a MS68...even though it is a horrible MS60 at best!!!

8. To sum it up: Buy from sellers who actually describe the coins to a satisfactory extent, who have good, personalized feedback, and give good pictures of the coin.  DO NOT buy from sellers who do not describe the coin, offer hyped up descriptions, make it hard to figure out exactly what you are getting if it is a lot item(ALL lot bulk coin "Estate" sales are bogus and you will be getting pennys on the dollar for your purchase), have shady or plain feedback, and especiall if they sell bogus company slabbed coins.

This is all I can think of right now and is a good start on the path of smart buying when it comes to coins on eBay...Take Care